# The RNC Sarah Palin Speech Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 4, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931 "2008-09-04T02:23:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/261 "2008-09-05T16:46:17Z")
Not sure where to put this and apologies if it’s already been posted: [Mrs. Palin won’t be talking to reporters.](http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/09/no_questions_please_were.html) ---
**Author:** ![Sinaijon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Sinaijon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaijon)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/262 "2008-09-05T16:48:34Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] By the way, I’m sick of hearing her stupid “hockey mom” meme. Hockey moms are upper middle class, not salt of the earth. Hockey is expensive. That shit is for rich kids. [/QUOTE] Whatever. Maybe in Roseville or Edina, but try telling that to all the Hockey Moms up in the Iron Range. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/263 "2008-09-05T16:56:54Z")
> [@Sinaijon](#): > > Whatever. Maybe in Roseville or Edina, but try telling that to all the Hockey Moms up in the Iron Range. I was being tongue in cheek. The equipment actually is kind of expensive, and ice time is at a premium in the metro area. It’s not really for “rich kids,” but the demographic does tend to be upper middle class, SUV type families. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/264 "2008-09-05T17:04:46Z")
I’ve grown up in several communities and not once did I ever run into any kind of organizer. Where does one find such a person? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/265 "2008-09-05T17:07:55Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > I’ve grown up in several communities and not once did I ever run into any kind of organizer. Where does one find such a person? You ran into plenty. They don’t announce themselves as community organizers. If you ever had a neighborhood watch group, you had community organizers. How much explanation do you want about what community organizations do? have you ever known anyone in the PTA? ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/266 "2008-09-05T17:10:45Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > I’ve grown up in several communities and not once did I ever run into any kind of organizer. Where does one find such a person? You’ve never known anyone who worked on a Habitat for Humanity project? Or Meals on Wheels? My father, the uber-Republican retired CIA guy, is a CERT volunteer in his (upper middle class) community. Although I only know a couple people who actually get paid for their community organizing efforts, almost everyone I know is in some way involved in what the Republicans would sneeringly call a community organization. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/267 "2008-09-05T17:16:38Z")
> [@C3](#): > > You’ve never known anyone who worked on a Habitat for Humanity project? Or Meals on Wheels? My father, the uber-Republican retired CIA guy, is a CERT volunteer in his (upper middle class) community. Although I only know a couple people who actually get paid for their community organizing efforts, almost everyone I know is in some way involved in what the Republicans would sneeringly call a community organization. If Obama worked for Meals on Wheels or Habitat for Humanity why doesn’t he simply say so? At least those are jobs that people have heard of! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/268 "2008-09-05T17:17:34Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > After reading **Huert’s** posts, I now think think the RNC shots at community organizers were intended to play implicitly right to the kind of racist assumptions that Huert is talking about. My sister told me that on NPR today they had a segment about the “community organizer” phrase and how it was threaded through most of the speeches of that particular day and perhaps it simply got out of hand. I don’t know which show she was listening to. Did anyone else hear that? ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/269 "2008-09-05T17:21:45Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > After reading **Huert’s** posts, I now think think the RNC shots at community organizers were intended to play implicitly right to the kind of racist assumptions that Huert is talking about. Geez. I was wondering why I couldn’t even accuse conservatives of race-baiting (I don’t think it’s racist per se; I think it’s taking advantage of he’s black, Sharpton’s black, you connect the dots – which still sounds unattractive) without a big argument . . . . And yes, for the record, I agree with those who say the GOP can’t bash grassroots organizations without sounding goofy given their thousand points of light, keep-it-local, rhetoric. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/270 "2008-09-05T17:22:24Z")
By the way, has anyone determined whether or not Obama was even a very _good_ community organizer? Here are some recent crime stats out of Chicago: “An estimated 125 people were shot and killed over the summer. That’s nearly double the number of soldiers killed in Iraq over the same time period.” > **[CBS Chicago - Breaking News, First Alert Weather, Exclusive Investigations...](https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/)** > > Latest breaking news from CBS2 WBBM-TV Chicago. OK, so Obama was a “community organizer.” Now tell me about his accomplishments on the job. Specifics, please… ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/271 "2008-09-05T17:23:12Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > If Obama worked for Meals on Wheels or Habitat for Humanity why doesn’t he simply say so? At least those are jobs that people have heard of! Have you read any of this thread at all? He didn’t worrk for those organizations. If you’ll scroll up, I provided a link the the specific organization that obama worked for, and he HAS said what it was and what he did. He’s talked about in his books in his speeches and on his website. Where else do you want him to talk about it? His job title was “community organizer.” Are conservatives really this ignorant or are they just pretending? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/272 "2008-09-05T17:26:17Z")
Incidentally, there’s nothing politically left-right about most community organizations. I never even knew what most people I worked and interacted with thought politically. The subject never came up. I can say that a lot of them were religious, though. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/273 "2008-09-05T17:26:22Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > By the way, has anyone determined whether or not Obama was even a very _good_ community organizer? Here are some recent crime stats out of Chicago: > “An estimated 125 people were shot and killed over the summer. That’s nearly double the number of soldiers killed in Iraq over the same time period.” > [http://cbs2chicago.com/local/chicago.summer.shootings.2.810166.html](http://cbs2chicago.com/local/chicago.summer.shootings.2.810166.html) > > OK, so Obama was a “community organizer.” Now tell me about his accomplishments on the job. Specifics, please… You go to the effort of looking up the Chicago firearm death rate but you can’t be bothered to google “obama community organizer accomplishments” yourself? Seriously? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/274 "2008-09-05T17:30:04Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > By the way, has anyone determined whether or not Obama was even a very _good_ community organizer? Here are some recent crime stats out of Chicago: > “An estimated 125 people were shot and killed over the summer. That’s nearly double the number of soldiers killed in Iraq over the same time period.” > [http://cbs2chicago.com/local/chicago.summer.shootings.2.810166.html](http://cbs2chicago.com/local/chicago.summer.shootings.2.810166.html) > > OK, so Obama was a “community organizer.” Now tell me about his accomplishments on the job. Specifics, please… He wasn’t a police officer. he wasn’t Batman. His job had nothing to do with fighting crime. What kind of inane argument is this? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/275 "2008-09-05T17:31:45Z")
As far as Obama’s “accomplishments” on the job – he got people job training, jobs, education and housing. What have you ever done for another human being? ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/276 "2008-09-05T17:38:09Z")
From the link above, here are Obama’s, ahem, “accomplishments” as a community organizer: **Schools have been made more accountable** Huh? His party RUNS the public schools in this country? What did they need to be made “more accountable” on? **Job training programs have been established** Fine. Great. Wow. What was Obama’s success rate when it came to job placement? Anyone know? \*\* housing has been renovated and built \*\* I seem to recall this happening in communities with absolutely no organizer involvement. Go figure. **city services have been provided** Like what? And I’m guessing they were “provided” by elected officials. **parks have been refurbished** So picking up trash and painting see-saws qualifies one to become president of the United States? I’ll bet not a single park was ever refurbished under Mayor/Governor Palin’s watch, huh? **and crime and drug problems have been curtailed** Is that when Obama decided to stop using and selling? (It’s a JOKE! I’m KIDDING! Although, it WAS Hillary’s NH campaign official, Bill Shaheen - husband of former NH governor Jeanne - who hinted that Obama may have been a coke-dealer in his past) OK, so those are his own claimed accomplishments. Color me unimpressed. ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/277 "2008-09-05T17:52:22Z")
This is absolutely the stupidest debate I’ve seen on this or any other messageboard. **Stephe96** , did you wake up today thinking, “You know what? Fuck community organizers. I’m going to devote my energy and my precious time on this Earth to make sure they get what’s coming to them.” Why are you passionately tearing down an occupation? Why the hell do you care? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/278 "2008-09-05T17:53:17Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > OK, so those are his own claimed accomplishments. Color me unimpressed. I think all of us who have ever been involved in even a small way with community organizations (mine was a literacy org) know that we are drops in a very big bucket. What each of us hopes to do is make the world a little bit better instead of a little bit worse. Less litter in the park is less litter. One more job found is one more job. One more house restored to livability is one more house. One more life buoyed is one more life. And in my case, one more illiterate person who can read job ads in the paper and fill out an application on her own is one more possibility for hope and change. There are no magic wands, there’s only long, hard work that doesn’t look like much to an antagonistic, sneering observer. I didn’t make the literacy rates in my county go up by any measurable amount. I just made a few people’s lives a little better because I chose to help them where I could. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/279 "2008-09-05T17:54:59Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > From the link above, here are Obama’s, ahem, “accomplishments” as a community organizer: If you are going to argue from rather than to a position, the least you can do is argue in good faith. If you would like to have a content-free, superficial discussion, perhaps someone else will come along to oblige you. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931/280 "2008-09-05T18:01:10Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I think all of us who have ever been involved in even a small way with community organizations (mine was a literacy org) know that we are drops in a very big bucket. What each of us hopes to do is make the world a little bit better instead of a little bit worse. > > Less litter in the park is less litter. One more job found is one more job. One more house restored to livability is one more house. One more life buoyed is one more life. And in my case, one more illiterate person who can read job ads in the paper and fill out an application on her own is one more possibility for hope and change. There are no magic wands, there’s only long, hard work that doesn’t look like much to an antagonistic, sneering observer. I didn’t make the literacy rates in my county go up by any measurable amount. I just made a few people’s lives a little better because I chose to help them where I could. I applaud your efforts. I really do. But here’s the point: do you honestly believe that a community organizer is more qualified to be president than a mayor and/or governor? That’s all I’m getting at. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rnc-sarah-palin-speech-thread/461931.md?page=15)